President Donald Trump decided to revoke the “last minute changes” implemented by his predecessor, Joe Biden, with respect to Cuba and announced the return to a maximum pressure policy on the island, several international news agencies reported Friday.
“The Trump administration is restoring a hard policy towards Cuba that protects the United States and helps the Cuban people. We have kept Cuba in the list of sponsoring states of terrorism – where corresponds – and we have taken other measures. The oppression of the Cuban regime against its people and their malignant actions must end, ”the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in a publication in the social network X, demanded this Friday.
Black List Entities
In that line, Washington vetoed certain operations with “companies that are under control, or act for or on behalf of, services or personnel military, intelligence or security repressive personnel”, included in a new list of Restricted entities created this Friday.
“The State Department is reissued the list of restricted entities of Cuba to deny resources to the same branches of the Cuban regime that oppress and monitor directly to the Cuban people while controlling large sectors of the country’s economy,” adds the statement of diplomatic power in Washington.
The list of restricted entities of Cuba contains a total of 230 Cuban entities, including subsequently owned by the Army.
This list affects international financial and commercial transactions, since more than 30 international banks withdrew from operating with some of those entities to which Washington syndica managed by the Cuban military.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjqpn26ly-y
Orbit Sa: Remittances in the peephole
Rubio announced that all the previous companies made the list again and added another: Orbit, SA, which manages remittances “for or on behalf of the Cuban army.”
During his first term, President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on another remittance management company, Fincimex, which he accused of maintaining links with the Cuban army.
At the time, Cuba replaced it with Orbit, which according to the newspaper The Miami Herald It is also controlled by the Armed Forces.
For its part, The new herald Indian that “the measure probably means that Western Union and other agencies based in Miami associated with Orbit SA will be forced to cut ties with the company to comply with the sanctions, thus suspending the official channels of remittances to the island until the Cuban government Look for a non -military company that provides the same service. ”
According to foreign sources, in 2023 Cuba received approximately 1972 million dollars in remittances from abroad, which represents a 3.31 % drop compared to the previous year, 2022, when 2040 million dollars were recorded. This figure also shows a significant decrease of 46.93 % in relation to 2019.
Of this amount, it is estimated that more than 83 % comes from the United States, which underlines the importance of remittances for the Cuban economy and its impact on the life of many families that deal with the worst economic crisis of the last thirty years.
USA Embassy shows political activity
Rubio’s message also expressed Washington’s support for “human rights and the fundamental freedoms of the Cuban people” and demanded “the liberation of all political prisoners detained unjustly.”
“Our embassy in Havana is meeting with relatives of those unfairly detained, as well as dissidents, so that they know that the United States supports them unconditionally,” added the Secretary of State, 53 years old and of Cuban origin.
Packing in pause
On January 14, the Cuban government announced a gradual process of sanctioned release by various judicial causes.
The liberations would benefit a total of 553 people, through an agreement forged with the Vatican that the authorities of Havana stressed was independent of President Biden’s decision, six days before his mandate expired, to take Cuba out of the list of sponsoring countries of terrorism.
However, Trump’s arrival at the White House meant the return of Cuba to that group of nations and, with it, the interruption until the moment of liberations, as reported by human rights organizations.
“The releases have not resumed,” Camila Rodríguez, director of Justice 11J, based in Mexico, told AFP this week.
For its part, the #Todos platform, which brings together the information of several NGOs, counted a total of 192 people out of prison so far, including the opponents of Félix Navarro and José Daniel Ferrer.
So far, the authorities have not communicated a calendar or the list of beneficiaries of the measure agreed with the Holy See and limited themselves to giving a figure of 127 released during the first two days, accounted for a Report Swiss news portal and multimedia information Swissinfo Swisinfo.ch.
What does it mean for Cuba not being on the blacklist of sponsoring countries of terrorism?
Immediate reactions
“We reject decisions announced by Secretary State United States and deceptive pretexts with which it intends to justify the unjustifiable. Like the measures of January 20, there is no support to the new free abuse to the people of #cuba ”, wrote In the social network X the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, in a first reaction of the Government.
“Harden criminal measures vs.. Cuban people will cause greater shortcomings, separation and increased emigration, ”Rodríguez added, and summarized that it is a“ new provocative act of those retake control #cuba to promote irresponsible confrontation scenarios for purposes and results contrary to proclaimed ”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PL5CBHFKUS
Earlier this Friday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that the aggressive behavior of the United States threatens international peace and criticized its recent decisions to use the Naval Base of Guantanamo to detain 30000 undocumented immigrants and re-enter the island to its list of countries Sponsors of terrorism.
“We will not shut up in front of infamy, nor will we lose hope in human improvement,” said the Cuban president by closing in Havana, the VI International Conference for the Balance of the World, a forum dedicated to the Cuban national hero José Martí (1853-1895 ).
Two days ago, after President Trump’s announcement, that he would send thousands of undocumented immigrants to the Guantanamo base, Díaz-Canel described that decision as an “act of brutality” and stressed that this military installation is located “in territory of Cuba illegally busy ”since 1903.
